Oct. 31: IDF in close quarters combat with Hamas as troops push further into Gaza

Defense Yoav Gallant (R) and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin shake hands while delivering joint statements at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv on October 13, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “emphasized the need to prioritize civilian safety in military operations,” during his latest phone call with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier today, the Pentagon says.

The US readout is issued hours after the IDF’s bombing of a Hamas stronghold in Jabaliya, which is believed to have included large numbers of civilian casualties in addition to terror fighters. The decision to lead the readout with this message, appears to indicate Washington’s discomfort with the strike, though the talking point has been included in every call since the start of the war.

Austin also “acknowledged the increased humanitarian aid delivery through the Rafah crossing today, and urged continued progress to increase assistance to civilians in Gaza,” the readout says.

12:08 am

Rocket alerts sound in moshav along Gaza border

Rocket warning sirens sound in Netiv Ha’asara, a moshav along the Gaza border.

11:49 pm

Romania confirms three citizens being held hostage by Hamas

By AP

Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that two more Romanian citizens are among the hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of Romanian hostages to three.

The ministry said that Romania’s embassy in Tel Aviv and its consulate in Haifa are in contact with the Israeli authorities over the matter. All three hostages hold dual Romanian-Israeli citizenship.

Since Hamas launched its bloody onslaught against Israel on October 7, at least five Romanian citizens, all of whom resided in Israel and held dual Israeli citizenship, have been confirmed dead.

11:37 pm

Netanyahu holding security consultation with military chiefs

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding a military consultation with top security officials at the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv, his office says.

Among those participating are Chief of Staff Herzi Levi, Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and war cabinet member Minister Benny Gantz.

The meeting comes as the military pushes ahead with its offensive into the Gaza Strip.

11:25 pm

White House believes Saudis ‘still committed’ to Israel normalization deal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday Oct. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, pool)

The White House believes that Saudi Arabia is “still committed” to negotiations with the United States aimed at securing a normalization agreement between Jerusalem and Riyadh, despite the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

“I think we came away from those discussions confident that there’s a path to get back toward normalization and that there’s still interest on the Saudi side in pursuing that,” US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says during a press briefing.

“Obviously, what’s going on between Israel and Hamas makes it harder to make practical progress on it right now,” he says, adding that the sides were still months away from an agreement before October 7.

“We’re still committed to it, it’s clear to us that the Saudis are still committed to it. But obviously, we’re all focused… on what’s going on there in Gaza,” Kirby adds.

US readouts issued after meetings with Saudi officials in recent weeks have included lines about a shared desire from both countries to “build on” the negotiations that were being held before the war.

Saudi readouts have made no such references to the normalization talks and have instead stressed Riyadh’s firm stance in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza. The kingdom has warned Washington that a major Israeli ground incursion could have catastrophic regional ramifications, a US official told The Times of Israel earlier this week.

11:03 pm

Blinken heading back to Israel on Friday

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at press conference after their meeting in Tel Aviv on Thursday October 12, 2023. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin, pool)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make his second war-time visit to Israel on Friday, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

Blinken visited Israel on October 12 and held a nearly eight-hour meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet, kicking off a regional tour that included stops in five other countries as he sought to build a coalition against Hamas while coordinating with allies to secure the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of the hostages.

That trip had appeared to have limited success as Arab countries have not taken well to the continued US support for Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Strip.

US diplomacy was integral, however, in coaxing Israel and Egypt to begin allowing humanitarian aid to enter the enclave 10 days ago.

10:51 pm

Palestinians say 2 killed in clashes with IDF in West Bank

Palestinians cry during the funeral of Rawhi Sawafta, 70, after he was killed in a reported clash with Israeli forces during a raid on the West Bank Town of Tubas, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry says two people, a teenager and a 70-year-old man were killed in clashes in the West Bank.

The ministry says Rawhi Rashid Sawafta, 70, died “after being shot in the face” during a raid by the Israeli army in the city of Tubas in the north of the West Bank.

Nine Palestinians were wounded — two seriously — in clashes with Israeli forces during the raid, the ministry adds.

Earlier in the evening, another Palestinian, 16-year-old Abdallah Moqbel, was killed by Israeli fire in Beit Ummar in the southern West Bank, the Palestinian ministry says.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Israeli forces have detained more than 1,000 Palestinians, many of them Hamas members, in West Bank raids since the October 7 assault by the terror group on southern Israel that killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

At least 122 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by the IDF, or in some cases by settlers, since October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

10:38 pm

Qatar warns expanded Israeli strikes in Gaza undermine mediation efforts

This picture taken from a position near Sderot along the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023, shows flares dropped by Israeli forces above the enclave. (Yuri Cortez/AFP)

Qatar condemns Israel’s strikes in Jabaliya in northern Gaza and warns that expanded attacks on the Strip would “undermine mediation and de-escalation efforts.”

The Qatari foreign ministry describes the strike on the Jabaliya camp as a “new massacre against the defenseless Palestinian people”, warning against “the expansion of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip to include civilian targets,” according to the official Qatar News Agency.

Israel says it hit an underground Hamas control center and killed a top terror leader and dozens of gunmen, adding that the implosion of the tunnel led to the collapse of several nearby buildings.

Qatar has been mediating a possible deal to release the more than 240 hostages held in Gaza.

10:19 pm

Bolivia said to cut ties with Israel over Hamas war

Demonstrators hold Bolivian flags in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Bolivia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel, citing “crimes against humanity,” the Reuters news agency reports.

The move comes as Israel battles the Hamas terror group in Gaza after the devastating October 7 assault on Israeli communities that killed some 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Israel has since carried out airstrikes on Gaza and sent in ground forces vowing to eliminate the terror group.

Hamas says more than 8,500 people have been killed but its numbers cannot be verified and it does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.

Bolivia cut ties with Israel in 2009 over another round of fighting in Gaza and only restored them in 2020.

9:56 pm

EU laments upsurge of settler attacks against West Bank Palestinians

Palestinian farming property torched by settlers in Burin on October 25, 2023. (Yesh Din)

The European Union lambasts the “upsurge of settler terrorism in the West Bank” that has led to civilian casualties and Palestinian communities “being forced out of their homes.”

“The situation could get out of control and is causing unspeakable suffering to local communities,” says a statement from the EU foreign policy chief’s spokesperson. “Urgent measures are needed.”

“Israel has the duty to protect civilians in the West Bank from extremist settler violence, to hold perpetrators accountable and ensure that the IDF intervenes. It is a legal obligation that must be fulfilled,” the statement says.

“This adds to an already tragic situation in Gaza, increasing the risk of dangerous escalation of the conflict, which must be avoided at all costs,” the EU statement adds.

“Nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes in the West Bank since the October 7 Hamas onslaught. This includes at least 98 Palestinian households, comprising over 800 people, driven out from 15 herding communities in Area C amid intensified settler violence and access restrictions,” according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

9:28 pm

US Senate confirms Jack Lew as next ambassador to Israel

Jacob Lew, former treasury secretary under President Barack Obama, testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to examine his nomination as Ambassador to the State of Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The US Senate has confirmed the nomination of former treasury secretary Jack Lew to become the next US ambassador to Israel.

The final vote tally is 53 to 43, with several Republicans, including Sens. Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul, crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats in approving US President Joe Biden’s pick.

Lew’s confirmation was fast-tracked through the Senate following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

9:21 pm

Pentagon sending 300 more troops to Mideast as attacks mount against US bases

By AP

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder says the total number of rocket and drone attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria has risen to 27, including 6 small-scale attacks that have taken place since US warplanes struck weapons storage areas for Iranian-backed militias in Syria last week.

In total, there have been 16 attacks on US bases in Iraq and 11 in Syria.

In addition, Ryder says the Pentagon is sending an additional 300 troops to the Middle East who specialize in explosive ordinance disposal and communications.

Those forces will be there to bolster US troops already in the region, Ryder says.

9:08 pm

White House says no signs Hamas diverting aid sent into Gaza

This aerial view shows humanitarian aid trucks arriving at a storage facility in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 21, 2023, after having crossed through the Rafah border from Egypt. (Belal Al Sabbagh/AFP)

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says the US has “no indication” that Hamas has diverted any of the humanitarian aid that entered Gaza over the past ten days.

Kirby says 66 trucks of aid have entered in the last 24 hours and that dozens of more trucks are expected to follow in the coming hours.

No fuel has entered the Strip since the start of the war and the US recognizes Israel’s concerns that Hamas will try and use the fuel for its own terror activities — to run the ventilation and electricity in its tunnel network.

However, the US is in talks with Israel to reach an agreement to allow for the secure entry of fuel, given that current supply in Gaza is “low to near empty,” Kirby says.

Israel claims Hamas has large stockpiles of fuel that it could transfer for civilian use if it wanted.

Kirby reiterates that the US does not support a ceasefire at this moment but is open to humanitarian pauses in the fighting — something that Israel has not expressly supported yet.

9:01 pm

Egypt said planning to allow wounded Gazans to cross border for treatment

Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli (C) holds a press conference during his visit to the Rafah crossing border on October 31, 2023. (Khaled Desouki/AFP)

Egypt will be opening the Rafah crossing to allow wounded Palestinians to be treated in Egyptian hospitals for the first time since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, media reports said, citing Palestinian and Egyptian sources.

National Security Council chairman Tzachi Hanegbi said earlier today that Israel hopes Cairo will open its border in order to allow the injured to be treated in the Rafah hospital along with field hospitals that can be established on Egypt’s side of the border.

Hanegbi also said that a number of countries heeded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to send ships that will dock off the coast of Gaza and serve as hospitals in the small southwest area of the Strip that Israel has designated as a safe zone.

“Medical teams will be present tomorrow at the crossing to examine the cases coming [from Gaza] as soon as they arrive… and determine the hospitals they will be sent to,” a medical official in Egypt’s city of El Arish tells AFP.

Israel’s Channel 12 says Egypt is building a field hospital along the border.

Egypt has thus far refrained from allowing Gazan civilians to exit through its border, restricting passage to humanitarian aid entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing.

Israeli proposals for Egypt to take in refugees from Gaza have infuriated Cairo, particularly because Jerusalem has refused to publicly promise that those who leave the Strip will be allowed to return, an Egyptian official told The Times of Israel last week.

8:48 pm

IDF says troops facing complex close quarter combat in Gaza

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says fighting in the Gaza Strip is becoming more complex as troops operate deeper into the Hamas-run territory.

“This is complex hand-to-hand combat. In the fierce battles that took place today, we lost troops,” he says.

Hagari says two Givati soldiers killed today died “bravely in battle” as troops worked to capture a Hamas stronghold in Jabaliya.

On an intercepted missile and several drones launched from Yemen toward Israel today, Hagari says “There are many elements in the region that are under Iranian orders such as the Houthis.”

“They try to challenge us, divert our attention away from the war in Gaza. We remain focused on the fighting in Gaza,” he says.

He says the IDF “will know how to respond, at the time and place of our choosing.”

8:42 pm

Hamas claims it plans to release hostages with foreign passports in the coming days

Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades' spokesperson Abu Obeida in a speech marking the anniversary of the 2011 kidnapping of Gilad Shalit on June 25, 2020. (Screenshot)

A Hamas military wing spokesman announces that the terror group will release a number of hostages with foreign nationalities in the upcoming days.

The spokesman, who goes by Abu Ubeida, says the decision has come as a result of the mediation of “some countries.”

Hamas has previously said it does not plan to keep foreign hostages. Israel has rejected such a differentiation and called for the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages and dismissed Hamas promises as a form of psychological warfare.

Abu Ubeida also denies that Israel freed IDF soldier Ori Megidish from Hamas captivity yesterday, implying that Megedish must have been abducted and held by another terror group.

Around 50 of the hostages are said to be in the hands of terror groups other than Hamas, most notably the Islamic Jihad. The claim cannot be verified.

Weighing in on Israeli domestic affairs, the terror group’s spokesman claims the war will mark the end of the political career of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, noting that if he managed to free only one hostage one month into the war, it will take him another 20 years to free the rest of them.

Abu Ubeida reiterates calls on the Islamic nation to join the battle and defend the Al-Aqsa mosque.

8:10 pm

Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar condemn Israeli strikes in Gaza’s Jabaliya

This image grab taken from AFPTV video footage shows Palestinians looking for survivors in a crater following a strike in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2023. The IDF said the airstrike was part of 'a wide-scale strike' on Hamas operatives and infrastructure belonging to the terror group’s Central Jabaliya Battalion. (Photo by Fadi Alwhidi / AFP)

The Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi Arabian and Qatari foreign ministries have issued statements condemning the Israeli strikes in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip in which Hamas, in an unverified claim, said some 50 Palestinians were killed.

The IDF said the strikes targeted Hamas operatives and infrastructure belonging to the terror group’s Central Jabaliya Battalion, above and below ground, and that the collapse of underground terror tunnels also brought down some nearby buildings. It said that “numerous” terrorists were killed, including a top Hamas commander.

Egypt describes the airstrikes as “inhumane,” and as a “blatant violation of international law,” and warns of the consequences of “indiscriminate attacks on civilians in and around hospitals, where they seek refuge.” Cairo also calls on the international community to intervene to stop Israeli attacks and to provide humanitarian aid to Gazans.

Jordan also condemned the Israeli attack “in the strongest terms,” holding Israel responsible for the latest developments. Amman also condemned the ongoing escalation in the West Bank, and settlers’ violence against Palestinians.

Saudi Arabia expressed its “complete rejection of the Israeli occupation forces’ repeated targeting of sites crowded with civilians.”

7:56 pm

IDF says Jabaliya strike killed top Hamas commander, collapsed terror tunnels

The Israel Defense Forces says it has killed the commander of Hamas’s Central Jabaliya Battalion, Ibrahim Biari, in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip a short while ago.

The military said the strike killed Biari and several other terrorists and caused underground terror tunnels to collapse, bringing down several nearby buildings.

Palestinian reports said at least 50 people were killed in the strike and subsequent collapse.

According to the IDF, Biari was one of the Hamas commanders responsible for directing members of the terror group’s elite Nukhba forces to invade Israel on October 7.

The IDF says the airstrike in Jabaliya was part of “a wide-scale strike” on Hamas operatives and infrastructure belonging to the terror group’s Central Jabaliya Battalion.

According to the IDF, the Central Jabaliya Battalion took control of several civilian buildings in the area.

“The strike damaged Hamas’s command and control in the area, as well as its ability to direct military activity against IDF soldiers operating throughout the Gaza Strip,” the army says in a statement.

It says “numerous” terrorists were killed with Biari, and “underground terror infrastructure embedded beneath the buildings, used by the terrorists, also collapsed after the strike.”

The IDF says it also “reiterates its call to the residents of the area to move south for their safety.”

7:50 pm

IDF says troops conquered Hamas stronghold in Jabaliya, killed 50 terrorists

A picture taken from Israel's southern city of Sderot shows smoke rising during Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023. (Fadel Senna/AFP)

The Israel Defense Forces says ground troops took control of a Hamas “military stronghold” in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and killed some 50 terrorists during operations today.

The IDF says infantry forces and tanks, led by the Givati Brigade, seized the compound in western Jabaliya, which is used by Hamas’s Jabaliya Battalion.

The complex includes tunnels and rocket launching positions, as well as weapon storage sites, the IDF says.

The IDF says troops clashed with Hamas in the compound, killing “numerous” terrorists, and the Air Force struck sites and other operatives in the area.

After capturing the site, troops located and later destroyed the entrances to tunnels and weapons.

It adds that intelligence information was also obtained from the compound.

According to the IDF, some 50 Hamas terrorists were killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip today.

IDF says ground forces took control of a Hamas "military stronghold" in western Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip today. During fighting in the compound, which is used by the Jabaliya Battalion, forces killed several terrorists and the Air Force struck sites and other operatives. Some… pic.twitter.com/pZ40DuvOHO

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 31, 2023

7:45 pm

Blinken says ‘revitalized’ Palestinian Authority should take over Gaza after war

Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing to examine the national security supplemental request, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority should retake control of Gaza if Israel succeeds in its goal of toppling Hamas, but that regional partners and international agencies could play an interim role.

The stance given in testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee is the first time that the Biden administration has publicly declared its desire for the PA to return to Gaza after privately raising the idea with regional partners since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Hamas ousted the PA from Gaza in 2007 after winning a plurality of the vote in the enclave’s last election a year before.

“At some point, what would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza,” Blinken tells the Senate hearing.

“Whether you can get there in one step is a big question that we have to look at. And if you can’t, then there are other temporary arrangements that may involve a number of other countries in the region,” he says. “It may involve international agencies that would help provide for both security and governance.”

Blinken says that there cannot be a “reversion of the status quo with Hamas running Gaza.”

“We also can’t have — and the Israelis start with this proposition themselves — Israel running or controlling Gaza,” he says.

But returning the PA to Gaza would be highly difficult to implement, given the historically weak state of the PA. The governing body in the West Bank has been plagued by corruption, has lost face among Palestinians for cooperating with Israel and has seen international support shrink with rejected peace offers and continued stipends to Palestinian security prisoners.

Critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have accused him of strengthening Hamas over the past 15 years in order to divide the Palestinian factions and weaken the more moderate PA, which recognizes Israel and supports a two-state solution.

Netanyahu’s office insists that it is not currently holding formal talks regarding its “day-after” strategy and is solely focused on toppling Hamas. “All talk of decisions to hand over the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority or any other party is a lie,” his office said in a statement on October 20.

More recently, the Likud-run Intelligence Ministry drafted a policy paper arguing that restoring the PA in Gaza would amount to a victory for the Palestinian national movement that would pose a danger to Israel.

For its part, Ramallah has asserted that it has no interest in returning to Gaza unless it is part of a diplomatic initiative that unites the enclave with the West Bank and revamps the peace process with Israel — something that the US supports but that hasn’t drawn Israel’s interest.

7:27 pm

TV report: Jabaliya strike hit Hamas facility, killed dozens of terrorists; IDF yet to comment

Israel’s Channel 12 news says that a reported Israeli airstrike in the Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza was aimed at, and hit, a “Hamas facility” and that “dozens of terrorists, including senior field commanders, were killed.”

The TV report, which is not sourced, says the facility was “a significant terror target,” above ground and below ground.

The IDF has not yet commented on the incident.

7:15 pm

Egypt stations tanks near Rafah border

Egyptian tanks are deployed near Egypt's northern Rafah border crossing with Gaza on October 31, 2023. (Khaled Desouki/AFP)

Egypt has stationed tanks and armored vehicles near the Rafah border crossing into Gaza.

Pictures show dozens of the vehicles stationed near the border.

Egypt fears an influx of tens of thousands of refugees from the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and has so far kept the border largely closed, only allowing aid trucks into Gaza.

Egypt is limited by its 1979 peace treaty with Israel as to the number of forces it is allowed to station in the Sinai Peninsula, although Israel has in the past approved Egypt breaching those numbers to battle an Islamic insurgency in the area.

7:05 pm

Gallant: IDF making ‘significant’ achievements in Gaza, but ‘paying a heavy price’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks to elite Air Force soldiers at the Palmachim airbase, October 31, 2023. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says the Israel Defense Forces is making “significant” achievements during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, but that it is also “paying a heavy price.”

“We are deploying forces on a large scale, deep in the Strip,” says Gallant to troops of the Air Force’s elite Shaldag and 669 units.

“There are battles against the forces that are operating [in Gaza] and the results and achievements on the battlefield are very high,” he says.

“Unfortunately, in war, there are also prices, and the prices in the last day were heavy prices,” Gallant continues.

“Despite that, we are also determined to continue and win,” he adds.

The IDF has said that two soldiers were killed and two seriously injured in fierce fighting in Gaza today and that “numerous” terrorists were killed.

6:56 pm

IDF says it hit anti-tank missile cell in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces says it has struck and killed another terror cell in southern Lebanon attempting to carry out an anti-tank guided missile attack.

Separately, the IDF says it struck another Hezbollah site in the area, in response to the repeated rocket and missile attacks on northern Israel.

IDF says it struck and killed another cell attempting to carry out an anti-tank guided missile attack from southern Lebanon. Separately, another Hezbollah site was hit in response to the repeated attacks on northern Israel. pic.twitter.com/crnAOUHM1d

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 31, 2023

6:51 pm

UN chief says he’s ‘deeply alarmed’ by escalation of Israel-Hamas conflict

By AFP

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, October 24, 2023. (Seth Wenig/AP)

The United Nations chief said Tuesday he was “deeply alarmed by the intensification of the conflict between Israel and Hamas” as fierce fighting raged in Gaza.

The escalation includes “ground operations by the Israel Defense Forces accompanied by intense air strikes, and the continued rocket fire towards Israel from Gaza,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says in a statement.

“I remain deeply concerned about the risk of a dangerous escalation beyond Gaza,” he added.

6:37 pm

Heavy rocket barrage fired at central Israel

A heavy rocket barrage is fired at central Israel.

Sirens sound in Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Givatayim, Ramat Gan, Jaffa, Holon, Bat Yam, Rishon Lezion and other nearby communities.

There are no immediate reports of direct impacts or injuries.

⚡️ Large rocket alerts [18:27:27] – 11 Red alerts:

• Shfela (Lowlands) — Rishon LeZion – West#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/eCYuWnSYOT

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) October 31, 2023

6:02 pm

IDF says two soldiers killed, two seriously wounded in Gaza fighting

Staff Sgt. Lavi Lipshitz, 20, from Modiin (left) and Staff Sgt. Roei Wolf, 20, from Ramat Gan (right), who both served in the Givati Infantry Brigade’s reconnaissance unit and who were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces says two soldiers were killed and another two were seriously wounded during clashes with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip today.

The slain soldiers are named as Staff Sgt. Roei Wolf, 20, from Ramat Gan, and Staff Sgt. Lavi Lipshitz, 20, from Modiin, who both served in the Givati Infantry Brigade’s reconnaissance unit.

The families of the wounded soldiers have been updated, the IDF says.

Earlier, the military said it was engaging in fierce battles with Hamas and numerous terrorists had been killed.

6:01 pm

FBI director warns of heightened threats in US from Israel-Hamas war

By AFP

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before a House Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing, July 12, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. . (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

The Israel-Hamas war has raised the threat of attacks against Americans in the United States to a “whole ‘nother level,” FBI Director Christopher Wray warns.

“We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration the likes of which we haven’t seen since (the Islamic State group) launched its so-called caliphate several years ago,” Wray tells the Senate Committee on Homeland Security.

“We also cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil,” he says.

The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation says the most significant threat was to Jewish and Muslim communities in the United States.

“Our most immediate concern is that violent extremists, individuals or small groups, will draw inspiration from the events of the Middle East and carry out attacks against Americans going about their daily lives,” he says.

“That includes not just homegrown violent extremists inspired by a foreign terrorist organization but also domestic violent extremists targeting Jewish or Muslim communities.”

5:43 pm

Hamas says at least 50 killed in airstrike on Jabaliya camp; no independent confirmation

The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip now says at least 50 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza.

Earlier it put the figure at some 400 dead and wounded.

“More than 50 martyrs and around 150 wounded and dozens under the rubble, in a heinous Israeli massacre that targeted a large area of homes in Jabaliya camp,” a ministry statement says.

Hamas figures cannot be confirmed but AFP video footage from the scene appeared to show at least 47 bodies recovered from the rubble after the strike hit several houses in the camp.

Dozens of onlookers could be seen standing on the edges of two vast craters as people searched for survivors.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes.

Ragheb Aqal, a resident, describes the strikes as “an earthquake” that shook the entire refugee camp.

The entire neighborhood bombed to the ground just like that, it was filled with people.#Jabalia_massacre pic.twitter.com/6gHw3Q67N5

— Mahmoud Hossam Eldeen (@mahmoud97hossam) October 31, 2023

Other residents reported that minutes after the Israeli strikes, the ground began to collapse and buildings fell into sinkholes that opened up.

The Air Force has been targeting Hamas tunnels built under neighborhoods.

#BREAKING: Jabaliya residents are claiming that several minutes after an Israeli airstrike the ground around them began to collapse, leading to massive casualties, many of whom fell into sinkholes along with structural frames of the apartment buildings.

— Gaza Report – اخبار غزة (@gaza_report) October 31, 2023

5:40 pm

Far-left protesters interrupt congressional hearing on US military aid to Israel

By Jacob Magid and AFP

Demonstrators displaying the message "Free Gaza" raise their hands in the air during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing to examine the national security supplemental request, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on October 31, 2023. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Far-left protesters with hands covered in red paint have repeatedly interrupted a congressional hearing on US military aid, demanding that Washington stop funding Israel’s fight against Hamas and calling for a ceasefire.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are appealing to the Senate Appropriations Committee for billions of dollars in military assistance to support Israel, Ukraine and other security costs.

Some two dozen spectators have raised hands covered in paint in a symbol of the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip since Israel declared war and said it would topple the Hamas terror group, which rules the Palestinian territory, after Hamas’s murderous shock onslaught on October 7.

Several had “Free Gaza” written on their arms and held signs demanding “No more $$$ 4 Israel,” while some cry out “Ceasefire now,” “Palestinians are not animals” and “Shame on you all.”

One man wore a shirt reading “Stop backing genocide.”

Blinken has been forced to stop speaking several times as some demonstrators were escorted out by police.

a group of demonstrators interrupts Blinken's opening statement for a fifth time and this time for an extended period pic.twitter.com/FVU0pMbmGh

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 31, 2023

Responding to the calls from the protesters in his remarks, Blinken says the US is committed to protecting civilians in Gaza but asserts that it does not support a ceasefire at this moment because it simply would allow Hamas to regroup and commit another massacre like it did on October 7.

US President Joe Biden has asked Congress for more than $105 billion in security spending, including $14.3 billion for its staunch ally Israel.

5:31 pm

870 Holocaust survivors thank Biden for Israel support

US President Joe Biden is greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Eight hundred and seventy Holocaust survivors have penned a letter to US President Joe Biden thanking him for supporting Israel following the Hamas terror onslaught on October 7.

“Holocaust survivors lived through the worst of human capability. We witnessed the murder of our families, our communities, and the near annihilation of the Jewish people,” they write in the letter organized by the Jewish Federations of North America.

“But today is different. Today we have Israel. Today we have the United States of America and a President willing to support the State of Israel and denounce antisemitism at home and abroad. Your unwavering affirmation of Israel’s right to defend itself is meaningful to us.”

5:30 pm

Police say so far 826 cilivilian victims of Hamas assault have been identified

Family and friends attend the funeral of Lili and Ram Itamari who were murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023, in Kibbutz Ruhama, October 29, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Police say that as of today 826 civilian victims of the deadly Hamas assault have been identified.

The statement says this number accounts for some 85% of the bodies found.

So far 732 of the victims have been released for burial.

Efforts to identify all the victims is a slow process with many having been badly burned or mutilated in the assault.

In addition, more than 350 members of the security forces were killed.

5:10 pm

US Senate set to confirm Jack Lew as next ambassador to Israel

Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew speaks during the Financial Stability Oversight Council at the Treasury Department in Washington, Nov. 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

The Senate will hold a vote this afternoon to confirm US President Joe Biden’s nominee to become the next US ambassador to Israel, former treasury secretary Jack Lew.

Lew’s confirmation has been fast-tracked through the Senate since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Lew is expected to be confirmed in a largely party-line vote.

5:03 pm

Hamas says dozens killed in strikes on Jabaliya in northern Gaza; no independent confirmation

Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry said a number of Israeli airstrikes hit apartment buildings in a residential area of Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The ministry says some 400 people are either dead or injured, but does not provide a breakdown.

Ministry spokesperson Ayed al-Bazm said at a news conference that six bombs hit the residential area today.

The figures from Hamas cannot be confirmed.

Pictures from the scene show several large craters and what appear to be several bodies at the scene.

تغطية صحفية: صور جديدة.. دمار هائل ومئات الشــهداء والجرحى بتدمير الاحتلال لحي سكني في مخيم جباليا. pic.twitter.com/oH2U0QlIDa

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) October 31, 2023

4:46 pm

Four wounded in rocket strikes on Ashdod

Firefighters extinguish a car fire caused by a rocket impact in Ashdod, October 31, 2023. (Fire and Rescue Services)

Four people have been wounded in two separate rocket impacts in the coastal city of Ashdod, following a barrage from the Gaza Strip, medics say.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it is treating a 50-year-old man in serious condition with shrapnel injuries, and three men aged 64, 46, and 35 in light condition, who were hit by glass shards.

They are all being taken to the local Assuta Hospital.

MDA adds that it is scanning other rocket impact sites in the area for more potential injuries.

4:40 pm

Hanegbi: Israel recognizes Egypt’s reluctance to take refugees, hopes it’ll treat wounded

Asked whether Israel wants Egypt to take in refugees for Gaza, National Security Council chairman Tzachi Hanegbi says Israel recognizes Cario’s fear that displaced Palestinians will try and rush the border if it is opened.

Hanegbi notes Israel’s longstanding ties with Egypt and expresses hope that Cairo will open its border in order to allow the injured to be treated in the Rafah hospital along with field hospitals that can be established on Egypt’s side of the border.

“There are many things that Egypt can help those uninvolved citizens. This is our mutual interest,” Hanegbi says.

Egypt has thus far refrained from allowing Gazan civilians to exit through its border, restricting passage to humanitarian aid entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing.

Hanegbi also says a number of countries have heeded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to send ships that will dock off the coast of Gaza and serve as hospitals in the small southwest area of the Strip that Israel has designated as a safe zone.

The national security adviser urges the wounded to be treated in safe zones or in Egypt and not other hospitals inside Gaza under which Israel says Hamas has established command centers.

4:37 pm

Hanegbi: Primary aim of war is returning hostages; US support is massive

By Lazar Berman

Hanegbi says a primary aim of the war is to return the hostages. “This is our sacred responsibility as a nation, to our soldiers and our civilians.”

He insists the ground operation will help free the hostages.

Hanegbi says the entire conceptual framework with which Israel saw its security until October 7 “disappeared.”

“There is no longer ‘a round,’ ‘an operation,’ there are no longer amorphous goals like ‘strengthening deterrence,’ ‘extracting a price,’ ‘a painful strike on infrastructure,’ ‘burning into enemy consciousness.’ The massacre on October 7 did away with the illusion that we are facing an enemy who wouldn’t risk his total destruction.”

Hamas, says Hanegbi, sees Gaza’s residents as “human dust that offers it protection.”

Hamas has “to cease existing,” says Hanegbi, and that is the IDF’s mission.
“Monstrous terrorist organizations will never again be allowed to rule the Gaza Strip,” he says.

Hanegbi also says that firm US backing is a massive advantage, and allows Israel “to wage an unprecedentedly powerful campaign” against Hamas.

In order to maintain that support, says Hanegbi, “it is our responsibility to distinguish between murderers and civilian bystanders, to encourage the civilian population in the northern Gaza Strip to position themselves in safe areas in the south, to allow foreign aid forces to provide food, water, and medicine to everyone who heeds our call and is in the south today, and to call for lifesaving medical care to everyone who needs, but not in the hospitals which today serve as terror headquarters, for Hamas and PIJ command and control, but in Egyptian hospitals, in the protected area, or in hospital ships.”

He says such foreign medical ships are on their way to Gaza’s coast.

4:15 pm

Rocket from Gaza hits Ashdod

A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip in the latest barrage has slammed into a residential area of Ashdod, local authorities say.

Footage shows a number of cars on fire and smoke rising from between buildings.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says its medics are heading to the scene to scan for possible injuries.

A number of other rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.

Image reportedly from the scene of a rocket impact in Ashdod. pic.twitter.com/NDJ7BcF1f1

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 31, 2023

4:13 pm

Mortars fired from Lebanon at northern community of Arab al-Aramshe

The Israel Defense Forces says a number of mortars were fired from southern Lebanon at the northern community of Arab al-Aramshe.

All the projectiles landed in open areas, causing no injuries or damage, the IDF says.

It adds that troops are responding with artillery shelling toward the sources of the mortar fire.

4:12 pm

Hanegbi says Israel in third stage of Gaza operation, will win despite the pain

By Lazar Berman

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi speaks during a statement to the media at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv on October 14, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Speaking in Tel Aviv, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi says the first stage in the war, containing the Hamas attack and clearing southern Israel of terrorists, is over, as is the second stage, striking “with precision and force all the enemy systems through quality intelligence from air, land, and sea.”

The third and current stage is the ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip.

“It is a difficult campaign,” he says, “and it demands intensive combat. There is no combat without a painful price. We are a fighting nation, despite the pain. We are determined to win, despite the pain.”

3:59 pm

IDF says gunfire, mortars hit northern Israel

The Israel Defense Forces reports further attacks from southern Lebanon on northern Israel.

The IDF says shots were fired at army positions on the border, and two mortars launched from Lebanon landed in open areas near Tel-Hai College.

There are no reports of injuries in the attacks.

The military says it shelled the sources of the gunfire and mortar launches with artillery.

In response to the attacks, and earlier missile and rocket launched from Lebanon, the IDF says it struck Hezbollah “military infrastructure.”

IDF says it struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to attacks on the border today. In the last few hours, shots were fired at IDF posts, and two mortars landed in open areas near the Tel-Hai College. pic.twitter.com/hnbJvfJHYL

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 31, 2023

3:42 pm

Yemen’s Houthis claim attacks on Eilat, vow more to come

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claim responsibility for a series of attacks against southern Israel.

Yahya Sria, a spokesman for the group, says that the aerial assault, comprising drones as well as ballistic and cruise missiles, was carried out “out of a sense of religious, moral, humanitarian, and national responsibility” for the people of Gaza, in the face of the weakness of the Arab world, and of the collusion of some Arab countries with Israel.”

The operation was prompted by “the demands of the Yemeni people,” he adds.

Saria notes that this was the third attack carried by the group against Israel since the start of the war, and vows to carry out further strikes against Israel with missiles and drones.

The rocket launches triggered sirens in Eilat in the morning and were intercepted by the Arrow air defense system. Israeli jets shot down the drones.

The prime minister of the Houthi government, Abdelaziz bin Habtour, declared earlier in the day that the drones used in the attack “belong to the state of Yemen.”

The Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 and control large swaths of the country, are “part of the axis of resistance” against Israel along with Hamas — which is also backed by Tehran.

3:19 pm

Netanyahu to hold call with UK’s Sunak

By Lazar Berman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak are slated to talk by phone today at around 5 p.m. Israel time, diplomatic sources tell The Times of Israel.

Sunak will bring up the UK’s desire to see more humanitarian aid enter Gaza, including through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing if necessary.

He will also bring up the 3 confirmed British hostages being held by Hamas, and the 300 or so British citizens in Gaza that Hamas is preventing from leaving through the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

3:16 pm

UK Labour chief Starmer says Gaza ceasefire would ’embolden’ Hamas

By AFP

Britain’s main opposition leader Keir Starmer is defending his decision not to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, amid internal dissent over the stance.

“A ceasefire always freezes any conflict in the state where it currently lies,” he tells the Chatham House international affairs think-tank.

“As we speak, that would leave Hamas with the infrastructure and the capability to carry out the sort of attack we saw on October 7,” he adds. “Hamas would be emboldened and start preparing for future violence immediately.”

Starmer has instead called for a humanitarian pause to Israel’s bombardment to allow much-needed aid to reach ordinary Palestinians unable to leave the coastal enclave.

Pauses in the fighting “for clear and specific humanitarian purposes — and which must start immediately — is right in practice, as well as principle,” he says.

“In fact, it is, at this moment, the only credible approach that has any chance of achieving what we all want to see in Gaza: the urgent alleviation of Palestinian suffering, aid distributed quickly, space to get hostages out.”

“Open-ended military action… without a clear and desired political outcome is ultimately futile,” he adds, noting that Israel’s right to self-defense is “not a blank check.”

3:09 pm

Hamas raises Gaza death toll to over 8,500

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says it registered the deaths of at least 219 people in the past day, bringing the death toll to 8,525 since the war began.

Spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra says in a televised news conference that the fatalities include 3,542 children and 2,187 women.

The terror group’s figures cannot be verified independently, and likely include members of the terror group and allied fighters, as well as people killed by rocket misfires inside the Strip.

Al-Qidra says the main power generator in the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, north of Gaza, has stopped working due to a lack of fuel.

He warns that more hospitals could go out of service in the coming days if fuel isn’t allowed into the besieged territory, a claim that also cannot be verified.

2:39 pm

Rockets target areas north of Tel Aviv for second time in minutes

Sirens are once again sounding in areas north of Tel Aviv, including Kfar Saba, Jaljulya and Hod Hasharon.

A bombardment in the same area minutes earlier is claimed by Hamas.

2:39 pm

Rocket sirens blare in Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba

Sirens are sounding in Tel Aviv and suburbs, including Petah Tikva.

Rocket alarms also sound in areas north of Tel Aviv, including the cities of Ra’anana, Herzliya and Kfar Saba.

A live view of Tel Aviv appears to show the telltale puff of at least one rocket interception.

2:34 pm

Hezbollah fires missiles at IDF posts in north

Missiles were fired by Hezbollah terrorists at two IDF positions on the northern border, the Israel Defense Forces says.

Separately, the army says it carried out a strike against a terror cell in southern Lebanon preparing to carry out an anti-tank guided missile attack against northern Israel.

The military does not report any casualties in the missile attacks.

Earlier, two rockets were also fired at northern Israel, setting off sirens in the northern town of Metula.

The IDF says both projectiles landed short in Lebanon. It adds that troops are responding with artillery shelling at the sources of the rocket and missile fire.

2:26 pm

Man lightly injured in rocket attack on Negev

The Magen David Adom rescue service says it is treating a man with light injuries after his car was hit with shrapnel from a rocket interceptor, following a rocket attack on areas north and east of Beersheba.

The man, 29, is taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for treatment.

2:26 pm

Ben Gvir panned for flogging judges over release of pro-Palestinian detainees

By Jeremy Sharon

The Israeli Judicial Authority implicitly criticizes far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for criticizing judges by name for decisions they have issued in recent days.

Ben Gvir has explicitly criticized two Arab judges in the last week, Ihsan Kanaan of the Haifa District Court for releasing left-wing, pro-Palestinian activist Yoav Bar from detention, and Arafat Taha of the Nazareth District Court for releasing actress Maisa Abd Elhadi from detention, after both individuals were arrested on suspicion of incitement to terrorism.

Abd Elhadi, who was put under house arrest, was subsequently indicted on charges of identifying with a terror organization and incitement to terror, amid a wide police crackdown on Israelis allegedly expressing support for the attacks online.

“In recent days, offensive statements have been published against judges for doing their job. The Israeli Judicial Authority views these statements very severely,” reads a statement put out by the spokesperson’s department of the judiciary, which was unsigned.

The statement says such comments are especially concerning when made by “senior public figures, who, precisely at these times, should be expected to work to moderate the discourse,” likely in reference to Ben Gvir.

“Israeli judges rule in accordance with the law, the circumstances of the case, and the evidence placed before them, and will continue to do their work faithfully, without fear and without bias, in times of emergency as well as on normal days,” the statement concludes.

In response, Ben Gvir says, “I suggest that the Judicial Authority concentrate on calling to order judges who demonstrate empathy to terrorism supporters instead of trying to educate elected officials.”

1:53 pm

IDF reports ‘fierce battles,’ at close quarters, deep inside Gaza; ‘it has a price’

IDF troops operating in Gaza, in a photo released by the Israeli military on October 31, 2023. (IDF Spokesperson)

The Israel Defense Forces says that in the last few hours, troops are engaged in “fierce battles against Hamas terrorists deep in the Gaza Strip.”

The military says ground and air forces hit several Hamas positions and anti-tank guided missile squads.

According to the IDF, troops have killed dozens of terrorists amid the fighting today, as well as seizing weapons.

IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari says the troops are fighting terrorists at close quarters, heroically and courageously. “This is dangerous conflict. It has a price,” Hagari says. “It is complex, but it is essential to our capacity to achieve the aims of the war.”

The IDF shares new footage showing troops operating in Gaza, as well as some of the recent strikes.

IDF shares new footage of troops operating in the Gaza Strip. The military says troops "are conducting fierce battles against Hamas terrorists deep in the Gaza Strip." It says troops hit Hamas positions, anti-tank guided missile squads, killed dozens of terrorists, and seized… pic.twitter.com/cvmOXr3vVq

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 31, 2023

The IDF statement does not provide information on any potential casualties on the Israeli side.

1:52 pm

Iranian Quds Force head said in Lebanon coordinating possible widening of war

Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is said to be in Lebanon to coordinate a possible wider confrontation with Israel.

According to the UK-based Amwaj.media, Qaani arrived in Beirut one day after Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel and has been there since then with the exception of a visit to Tehran October 16-20 for consultations.

Qaani is the successor of Qassem Soleimani, who used the Quds Force to export Iranian terror around the Middle East, according to US and Israeli officials. Soleimani was killed in June 2020 by a US strike at Baghdad airport.

Over the past ten days, Qaani is said to have met with Palestinian terror group leaders as well as the leadership of Hezbollah, to whom he conveyed messages from Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian proxy groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen have been accused of carrying out attacks against Israel and US service-members stationed in the region.

Security sources quoted by Amwaj say that while the Quds Force coordinates Iran’s allies in the Middle East in a “joint operations room,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has decision power over attacks from Lebanon against Israel.

1:38 pm

Rockets alarms sound in Negev northeast of Beersheba

Rocket alerts are sounding in areas north and east of Beersheba.

The areas under attack include regions where many Bedouin live without access to proper shelters.

Four explosions are heard.

1:30 pm

Red Sea long-range missile intercepted by Arrow system — IDF

The Arrow air defense system intercepted a surface-to-surface missile launched from the “Red Sea area” at Israel, the military says.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces says that Air Force systems tracked the missile’s trajectory, and intercepted it “at the most appropriate operational time and location.”

The missile is believed to have been launched by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, aimed for the southernmost city of Eilat.

Illustrative: Two Arrow 3 interceptors are launched during a test of the missile defense system on January 18, 2022. (Defense Ministry)

It marks the first operational use of the long-range Arrow defense system in the current war, the army says.

The IDF adds that this morning, fighter jets downed other “hostile targets” — believed to be drones — that were flying in the Red Sea area.

“All the threats were intercepted outside the territory of the State of Israel. No intrusion into Israeli territory was detected,” the IDF adds.

1:30 pm

Hezbollah chief Nasrallah to give first public speech since start of the war Friday

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is set to deliver a speech on Friday, his first public address since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

The speech is scheduled for 3 p.m. Israel time, during a ceremony to honor the “martyrs who died on the road to Jerusalem,” according to pro-Hezbollah news outlet Al Mayadeen.

Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in a number of small-scale skirmishes on the Israel-Lebanon border, some of them deadly. The terror group has been warned repeatedly to remain on the sidelines.

1:10 pm

Rocket siren triggered in Metula on Lebanon border

Incoming rocket sirens are sounding in the northern town of Metula, close to the Lebanon border.

The IDF says it is looking into the cause of the siren.

The alert comes amid repeated rocket and missile attacks by Hezbollah and allied Palestinian terror factions from southern Lebanon on northern Israel.

Separately, the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar outlet reports that IDF positions on the border were attacked from Lebanon, and that Israel responded with artillery shelling.

12:58 pm

Possible interception reported over Eilat

A trail of smoke, apparently from an Israeli air defense missile, is seen over the Eilat area in southern Israel, October 31, 2023. (Courtesy)

There are reports of air defense activity over the Eilat area in southern Israel.

Images show a trail of smoke, likely from an Israeli interceptor missile, and people in the area report having heard a large blast.

There is no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces on the incident.

Earlier, the IDF said it detected an “aerial target” approaching Israeli territory after air infiltration sirens were triggered in Eilat.

Some reports claimed a projectile was intercepted over the Red Sea, and Yemen’s Houthi government said its drones had been launched at Israel.

12:57 pm

El Al flight to Thailand skirts Oman as Muscat raps Israel

By AP and ToI Staff

Israeli airline El Al begins flying an hours-longer route between Tel Aviv and Bangkok, Thailand, as Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip rages on.

Instead of taking a route over Oman, El Al flight ELY 85 it reverted to a longer route in which it flew south over Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea before turning east over the Horn of Africa and heading into the Indian Ocean.

The route will keep El Al’s aircraft farther from Iran, which has backed Hamas.

The move comes as Oman is leveling new criticism at Israel over its Gaza offensive, with its foreign minister calling for Israelis to be tried for war crimes.

12:48 pm

Satellite image gives rare look at Israeli maneuvers inside Gaza

A computer screen shows an image of a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery of Gaza on October 31, 2023. (Times of Israel)

A New York Times report, based on new satellite images from Planet Labs, appears to offer a unique view of IDF maneuvers in the northwest Gaza Strip.

The large-scale image captured yesterday shows tracks made by tanks entering Gaza from the north and moving south along the coast toward the densely populated suburbs north of Gaza City, and what appears to be a staging area with dozens of armored vehicles in a former field.

The ground is seen pocked with craters from missile or rocket strikes, and buildings can be seen reduced to rubble.

The report provides a rare independent view of what Israel’s limited ground incursion into Gaza looks like, with journalists unable to enter Gaza and information tightly controlled by the military.

While a report claims that the military said Israeli ground forces were striking Hamas fighters inside tunnels, the military has only said that underground bunkers were among sites targeted in the past day by air, naval and ground forces. It has claimed to target underground fortifications throughout the fighting.

12:23 pm

Hamas video shows gun battle with Israeli troops

The Hamas terror group releases a clip showing its members clashing with Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Sunday.

The video shows drone footage of Israeli forces gathered inside Gaza, close to the Erez border crossing, before cutting to a body camera of a Hamas operative.

???? متابعة صفا| القسام تنشر مشاهد من التحام مجاهديها بالقوات المتوغلة غرب "إيرز" يوم الأحد 29 أكتوبر واشتباكهم معها pic.twitter.com/CdNph9eyj3

— وكالة صفا (@SafaPs) October 31, 2023

A number of armed Hamas members are exiting a tunnel, and slowly approaching the area where the Israeli forces are stationed.

The gunmen open fire at the IDF troops, and a gun battle ensues.

There have been numerous gun battles in the Gaza Strip in recent days, as the IDF expands its ground operations.

The IDF has so far confirmed that two soldiers have been wounded in the operation — one by mortar fire and another in a clash.

According to the IDF, dozens of Hamas terrorists have been killed in Gaza amid the ground incursion.

12:10 pm

IDF general to troops: We’ll fight in the alleys, in the tunnels, victory is the only option

IDF Southern Command chief, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman (center), is seen in the Gaza Strip, October 30, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces releases a radio recording of the head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, telling troops operating in the Gaza Strip that there can be “no result other than victory.”

“Southern Command stations, commander is speaking. We are launching an attack on Hamas and the terror groups in the Gaza Strip. Our goal is one, victory. No matter how long the fighting will be, how difficult, there is no other result but victory,” Finkelman says.

“We will fight professionally and powerfully in light of the IDF values we were raised on. Chief among them is sticking to the mission and striving for victory,” he says.

“We will fight in the alleys, we will fight in the tunnels, we will fight where necessary. We will strike the terrible enemy that stands before us,” Finkelman continues.

"כולם מביטים בנו כעת. כמוני, הם סומכים עליכם ומאמינים בכם, אתם דור הניצחון":

פקודת ההתקפה של מפקד פיקוד הדרום, אלוף ירון פינקלמן לכוחות היבשה הפועלים ברצועת עזה. pic.twitter.com/w00j96RF92

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 31, 2023

“My fighting brothers, the residents of Be’eri, Sderot, Nir Oz, Kfar Aza, and the western Negev communities, and with them the entire nation of Israel, are all looking at us now. Like me, they also trust you and believe in you,. You are the generation of victory,” he says.

“Get to your tasks, hit the enemy, over and out.”

12:09 pm

Mother of returned hostage: Now we pray for the others

Margalit Megidish, mother of IDF soldier Pvt. Ori Megidish who was rescued from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, speaks to press outside her home in Kiryat Gat, October 31, 2023 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The exultant mother of rescued soldier Ori Megidish gives a short statement to the media and supporters gathered outside her Kiryat Gat home, thanking God, the army, and the Shin Bet for bringing her daughter home.

“Thank you all for the prayers and support,” Margalit Megidish says, appearing to hold back tears. “Our Ori returned home. Now we pray for the rest of the hostages and those missing and our heart is with all the families.”

She also apologizes for not coming out to speak to the media earlier, before ducking back inside.

מרגלית מגידיש, אימה של התצפיתנית ששוחררה, בתגובה ראשונה: "עכשיו התפילות עם שאר החטופים והנעדרים" pic.twitter.com/7nxdfapQ14

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 31, 2023

12:08 pm

Iranian general claims over 400 kilometers of tunnels under northern Gaza

The chief of staff of the Iranian army claims that there are over 400 kilometers (248 miles) of tunnels underneath the northern section of the Gaza Strip.

“Vehicles and motorcycles can pass through some of them,” says Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri at a conference on civil defense in Tehran, according to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency.

A member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group walks in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, on April 17, 2022, during a media tour amid escalating violence with Israel. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)

Some of the tunnels have an entrance inside Israel, the commander claims.

Israel has touted the underground sensors of the Gaza barrier, officially completed in 2021, as having the ability to detect digging under the border, though the fence’s aboveground flaws were exposed on October 7. During Israel’s war with Gaza in 2014, terrorists used cross-border tunnels to stage a number of small-scale attacks.

Bagheri claims the reason the Israeli army has waited to launch a full-scale ground invasion into Gaza is because it knows that such an operation will mark “another defeat.”

11:38 am

80 aid trucks set to enter Gaza Tuesday, Israel says

Palestinians walk by the destruction after an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023. (AP/Hatem Ali)

The Defense Ministry says 80 trucks with humanitarian aid are slated to enter Gaza today, as the pace of shipments allowed into the Strip ramps up considerably.

???? The largest aid transfer since the start of the war: 8️⃣0️⃣trucks loaded with medical supplies, food, and water began inspection in preparation to enter #Gaza through the Rafah Crossing.#HamasISIS do not care about Gazan civilians. pic.twitter.com/2Xsu4ngvSu

— COGAT (@cogatonline) October 31, 2023

As of Monday, Israel had allowed a total of 144 trucks carrying food, water and medicine into Gaza since it began allowing aid to enter on October 17, including over 50 trucks on Sunday and Monday alone, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

UN officials say at least 100 trucks worth of aid are needed a day for the enclave, which received from 500 trucks daily before Israel imposed a siege on October 7 in response to the Hamas terror group launching a brutal attack on Israeli communities, killing some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping at least 245 more.

The US and other allies have pressed Israel to significantly scale up the pace of aid entering Gaza. Israel says it must check all shipments entering the Strip for weapons or other contraband, and has expressed worries that the goods will end up in the hands of Hamas, which rules the Strip.

11:20 am

Home hit by rocket in Gaza-area community

A home struck by a rocket in the Eshkol region, on October 31, 2023. (Eshkol Regional Council)

As sirens continue to sound sporadically in communities bordering the Gaza Strip, one home has been damaged by a rocket, local authorities in the Eshkol Regional Council say.

No injuries are caused in the attack as nobody was home, the council says.

Towns near the border with the Gaza Strip have been largely evacuated amid the fighting.

11:04 am

At least 80 people held over Dagestan airport hunt for Jews — Russia

Rioters at the airport in Makhachkala, Dagestan, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, shout antisemitic slogans as they protest the arrival of an airliner coming from Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP)

At least 80 people have been detained following antisemitic riots at an airport in Dagestan, Russia’s Kommersant news site reports.

According to the report, the Sunday incident, in which hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed an airport where a flight from Tel Aviv was landing in order to hunt down Jews, has been handed over to the SKR, Russia’s equivalent of the FBI, for investigation.

Some 150 suspects have been identified, according to the report, and searches are ongoing.

The report notes that police, in an attempt to calm the crowd, appeared at one point to agree to protest leaders boarding the plane to check if there were any Jews aboard, but the plan was scuttled when rioters began shouting “Allahu akbar” and insulting police.

Nine officers were injured, including two who were hospitalized, Kommersant reports.

10:32 am

Army says at least 240 hostages taken October 7 being held in Gaza

A poster shows Israelis seized by terrorists on October 7, at a press conference in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2023. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the military has so far notified the families of 240 hostages that their loved ones are being held in the Gaza Strip, upping the number of confirmed people who were abducted on October 7 to at least 245.

He says the number is not final as the military investigates new information.

The number does not include four released hostages — mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Ra’anan, and elderly women Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper — or Pvt. Ori Megidish, who was rescued by the IDF on Sunday night.

There are still dozens more missing people whose fates are currently unknown.

10:31 am

Yemen seen as source of fire on Eilat

Israeli officials suspect that a projectile shot toward Eilat was launched from Yemen, the Ynet news site reports.

On Twitter, a spokesperson for the Iran-backed Houthi militia says it will deliver an “important statement” in the coming hours, widely expected to address the suspected launches toward Israel.

Waad al-Haq, a Yemeni group linked to the Iran-backed Katai’b Hezbollah in Iraq, says online that Eilat was targeted from Yemen.

10:16 am

Sirens triggered in Kissufim twice

Sirens are sounding in Kissufim, adjacent to central Gaza.

The alarm is the second in about half an hour in the area.

9:40 am

Eilat given all clear after ‘aerial target’ launched at Israel — IDF

The Israel Defense Forces says it identified an “aerial target” approaching Israeli territory.

“There was no threat or risk to civilians,” the military says.

It does not confirm reports that the target was intercepted or that it approached from the Red Sea.

9:35 am

Projectile said shot down over Red Sea after Eilat alert

Following a drone infiltration alert in Eilat, reports in Hebrew media indicate that a projectile, possibly launched from Yemen, was intercepted over the Red Sea before it reached the resort city.

Residents of the city, which has swelled with Israelis displaced by the Hamas assault on southern Israel and Hezbollah attacks on the north, report hearing explosions.

9:34 am

Ex-Fatah strongman Dahlan calls for post-war democracy in Gaza, including Hamas

Mohammed Dahlan during an interview with The Associated Press in his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on January 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

Mohammad Dahlan, a former Fatah strongman in Gaza exiled to the UAE since Hamas’s takeover of the Strip, tells the Economist that he envisions a future in which both the enclave and the West Bank are governed by an elected Palestinian parliament, doing away with the Palestinian Authority presidency.

He says once Israel’s war on Hamas ends, the Strip should be governed by a technocratic government for two years before giving way to elections.

The vote should include rival Hamas, he says, pooh-poohing the suggestion that Israel will be able to eliminate the group completely. The terror group emerged victorious the last time Palestinian parliamentary elections were held, in 2006.

“Hamas will not disappear,” he is quoted saying in the rare interview.

Though based in the Gulf, Dahlan remains a powerful figure in Gaza, where he formerly ran security for PA President Mahmoud Abbas and has since brokered deals to bring money and fuel into the Strip.

However, he dismisses the suggestion that he would agree to be installed by Israel to rule the enclave once troops pull back, the Economist reports.

9:06 am

Aircraft infiltration alert sounds in Eilat

An Israel Navy ship operates off the coast of Eilat after an oil spill, on October 14, 2021. (Eli Warburg and Oz Goren/Environmental Protection Ministry)

A suspected drone infiltration alert is sounding in the southernmost city Eilat, and surrounding areas.

The Israel Defense Forces says it is looking into the incident.

The alert comes after Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen were accused of attempting to launch drones and missiles at Israel in the past two weeks. The missiles were downed by the US and Saudi Arabia, while the drones crashed into towns in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Last week, the IDF said one “aerial threat” was intercepted by an Israeli fighter jet over the Red Sea.

9:05 am

IDF says it killed Hamas commander who directed attacks on Erez, Netiv Ha’asara

The Israel Defense Forces says it has killed the commander of Hamas’s Beit Lahiya Battalion, Nisam Abu Ajina, in an overnight airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip.

According to the IDF, Abu Ajina was responsible for commanding the Hamas terrorists who carried out the deadly onslaught at Kibbutz Erez and Netiv Ha’asara on October 7.

The military says he previously commanded Hamas’s aerial forces, and worked on the development of the terror group’s drones and paragliders, used in the October 7 attacks.

צה"ל ושב"כ חיסלו את מפקד גדוד בית לאהיה של ארגון הטרור חמאס.

מטוסי קרב בהכוונת מידע מודיעיני של אמ"ן ושב״כ, חיסלו אמש את מפקד גדוד בית לאהיה בחטיבה הצפונית של חמאס, נסים אבו עג'ינה, אשר שילח את המתקפות הרצחניות של חמאס ב-7 באוקטובר לקיבוץ ארז ולמושב נתיב העשרה >> pic.twitter.com/xFXstgkSQS

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) October 31, 2023

The IDF says the airstrike was carried out following intelligence gathered by the Shin Bet security agency and Military Intelligence Directorate.

It adds that “his elimination constitutes a significant blow to the Hamas terror group’s efforts to disrupt the IDF’s ground operations” in the Gaza Strip.

8:41 am

Yad Vashem head: Erdan’s yellow star stunt at UN ‘dishonors Holocaust victims, Israel’

Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan wears a yellow Star of David that reads 'Never Again,' as he addresses members of the UN Security Council at United Nations headquarters Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum director Dani Dayan calls out Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan for donning a yellow Star of David during his address to the Security Council yesterday, saying it “dishonors both the victims of the Holocaust and the State of Israel.”

“The yellow patch symbolizes the helplessness of the Jewish people and being at the mercy of others. Today we have an independent country and a strong army,” Dayan tweets.

“We are masters of our destiny. Today we place a blue-white flag on the lapel, not a yellow patch,” he adds.

Erdan told the Security Council he and his staff would wear the yellow stars inscribed with the words “Never Again” until members of the body condemned Hamas’s “atrocities.”

8:20 am

IDF says 300 sites hit in past day, many Hamas members killed

An IDF tank operating in Gaza, in a photo released by the Israeli military on October 31, 2023. (IDF Spokesperson)

The Israel Defense Forces says troops killed “numerous” Hamas terrorists during ground operations in the Gaza Strip over the past day, as well as striking some 300 targets.

The IDF says the targets hit by ground, air and navy forces included anti-tank guided missile and rocket launch positions, tunnel entrances and Hamas military compounds.

כוחות משולבים של צה"ל, בהכוונת שב"כ ואמ"ן, תקפו כ-300 מטרות במהלך היממה האחרונה, ביניהן פירי עמדות שיגור נ"ט ורקטות, פירי מנהרות ומתחמים צבאיים של ארגון הטרור חמאס >> pic.twitter.com/jQvDgKQzdW

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 31, 2023

It says that during ground operations, troops clashed with terror cells who fired missiles and heavy machine gun fire at the forces.

The IDF says troops killed the members of the cells, and directed the Air Force to carry out strikes amid the fighting.

IDF tanks operating in Gaza, in a photo released by the Israeli military on October 31, 2023. (IDF Spokesperson)

The military statement did not provide information on any potential new casualties on the Israeli side.

According to the New York Times, troops Monday night appeared to have surrounded Gaza City, closing it off from the north and south but keeping most forces outside the metropolis, in what was described as “a sort of pincer movement.”

8:08 am

Iran proxy Kata’ib Hezbollah claims drone attack on US base in Iraq

By AFP and ToI Staff

Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy group operating in Iraq and Syria, claims to have attacked the US-operated Ain al-Assad military base in western Iraq.

The group says it sent two drones “which scored direct hits on their targets.”

On Monday, security sources told Reuters that four Katyusha rockets had been fired at the base.

As of Monday, American and allied forces in Iraq and Syria had been attacked with drones and rockets 23 times this month, according to a senior US defense official.

“From October 17 to October 30, US and coalition forces have been attacked at least 14 separate times in Iraq and nine separate times in Syria,” the official said Monday. “Most failed to reach their targets thanks to our robust defenses.”

7:57 am

Hamas claims to attack forces in southern Gaza; sirens north of Strip

Hamas claims that it has shelled Israeli infantry forces near Kerem Shalom in the southern Gaza Strip.

No air raid sirens sounded in that area, according to Israel’s Home Front Command, though alerts did sound about an hour ago at Erez and Netiv Ha’asara, adjacent to the northern edge of the Strip.

7:33 am

Tech CEOs join outcry against Netanyahu over refusal to accept blame

The Israeli CEO of tech firm WalkMe is joining MobilEye founder Amnon Shashua in calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down following his government’s failures in the lead-up to the October 7 Hamas massacres, and other tech leaders are harshly criticizing the premier for refusing to accept responsibility.

“Netanyahu needs to go as soon as possible, despite the idea that ‘you don’t switch [leaders] during a war’ and ‘we shouldn’t talk about this now,'” Dan Adika tells the Calclalist financial daily, accusing the government of failing to operate in the wake of the assault. “He’s not fit to lead and needs to go.”

Adika and the other CEOs, including Joel Bar-El of Trax and Oz Alon of Honeybook, take particular umbrage at a tweet posted by Netanyahu appearing to blame the country’s security apparatus for failing to see the attacks coming, which Netanyahu subsequently apologized for following an outcry.

“As CEO, the responsibility is always on me, I can’t blame managers below me. The prime minister is the CEO and the disaster occurred on his watch,” Tom Livne, head of Verbit, tells the paper. “Our prime minister is disconnected from the reality on the ground and just looking for whom to blame.”

6:53 am

IDF demolishes West Bank home owned by senior Hamas official Arouri

This Israel Defense Forces demolishes a home owned by Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri, in the town of 'Arura, near Ramallah on October 31, 2023. (Screen capture/X)

This Israel Defense Forces has demolished a home owned by Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri, in the town of ‘Arura, near Ramallah.

Footage posted to social media shows the controlled blast carried out by the IDF.

On October 27, IDF Central Command head Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox signed the demolition order.

Based in Lebanon, al-Arouri is considered the de facto leader of Hamas in the West Bank.

لحظة تفجير قوات الاحتلال منزل نائب رئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس الشيخ صالح العاروري في بلدة عارورة شمال غرب رام الله pic.twitter.com/BfJgNCwT6q

— القسطل الاخباري | القدس (@AlQastalps) October 31, 2023

6:09 am

26 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Oct 7., four were killed in Israel — watchdog

Foreign and Israeli journalists stand on a hill overlooking the Gaza Strip in the city of Sderot, southern Israel, October 19, 2023. (by Nati Shohat/Flash90)

The Committee to Protect Journalists says that 31 journalists have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war thus far.

Twenty six of those journalists were killed in Gaza.

Four of those journalists were killed during the October 7 Hamas onslaught in Israel.

One journalist was killed in Lebanon, allegedly by Israeli shelling that has targeted Hezbollah.

CPJ says another nine journalists have been reported missing or detained.

“CPJ is also investigating numerous unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, hurt, or threatened, and of damage to media offices and journalists’ homes,” the group says in a press release.

5:52 am

Biden officials set two-week deadline for plan to combat campus antisemitism

By Ron Kampeas

Messages reading 'Glory To Our Martyrs' and 'Divestment From Zionist Genocide Now,' along with others, are projected onto a building at George Washington University's campus in Washington, October 24, 2023. (StopAntisemitism via X)

At a Monday meeting with Jewish leaders, Biden administration officials vowed to make a plan within two weeks to counter what they say is an alarming rise in antisemitism at US colleges and universities since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack started a war with Israel, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports.

The government officials, led by Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, told the Jewish leaders they would reconvene with them to lay out the proposal, sources in the off-the-record meeting say.

5:49 am

Feds charge Las Vegas man for making antisemitic death threats against Jewish senator

By JTA

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) speaks to reporters in Jerusalem, November 10, 2021 (Lazar Berman, Times of Israel)

A Las Vegas man threatened to kill Sen. Jacky Rosen, the Nevada Jewish Democrat, federal officials say, lacing his threats with antisemitic invective and anger at her advocacy for Israel while it is at war with Hamas.

Between October 11 and October 19, John Anthony Miller, 44, left numerous threatening messages on the office phone of a Nevada US senator, the Nevada US attorney says in a statement announcing Miller’s arrest. On October 17, “he threatened to assault, kidnap, or murder” her “with intent to impede, intimidate, or interfere” with her official duties, the statement says. The following day, he tried to enter a federal building where she keeps an office.

The statement and court papers filed Friday, when Miller appeared in court, do not name the senator, but Rosen’s office confirms to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she was the target.

In one of the Oct. 17 voicemails, Miller allegedly says, “You done picked your side, bitch, and you done chose evil. I don’t give a f— if you were born into it or not, bitch, you are f—ing evil, bitch, and we are going to exterminate you.”

Rosen, a former synagogue president, has been at the forefront of combating antisemitism and Israel advocacy in the Senate, chairing the Bipartisan Task Forces for Combating Antisemitism alongside Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford. Just days after Octobber 7, Rosen joined a bipartisan delegation to visit Israel and show support.

4:51 am

Natalie Raanan arrives back in Chicago, ten days after release from Hamas captivity

Natalie Raanan. (Courtesy)

Natalie Raanan has arrived back in Chicago, ten days after being released from Hamas captivity along with her mother Judith.

“Her family members have been anxiously waiting for her return, and today I am sharing their happiness,” Israel Consul General to the Midwest Yinam Cohen tweets.

“While we’re celebrating Natalie’s return, we remember the 239 hostages, among them babies, children, women, and the elderly, who are still held by Hamas in Gaza,” he adds.

Raanan was visiting family in Israel and was taken hostage into Gaza by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 onslaught.

4:40 am

Ex-envoy Nides steps down from Wells Fargo after one month ‘to return attention to Mideast’

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides speaks to the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations, in Jerusalem on February 19, 2023. (Amit Elkayam)

Wells Fargo has announced that Tom Nides, who joined the bank just over one month ago as vice chairman after 20 months as the US ambassador to Israel, has resigned “to return his attention to events in the Middle East.”

“Watching the horrific events unfold in Israel and Gaza these past few weeks have had a profound effect on me, in ways that I could not have imagined. While my tenure as Ambassador ended a few short months ago, I now feel an obligation to turn my attention back to the region, and continue to provide whatever assistance I can, outside of an official government role, to help find solutions for the people living there,” Nides says in a statement.

The former ambassador says he will work with the UJA Federation in New York as well as several Middle East organizations “to bring whatever expertise I can, immediately.”

William Daley, Wells Fargo’s vice chairman of public affairs until Nides was hired, has returned to his prior role, and the company says it will re-start a search for Daley’s replacement in the coming weeks.

The announcement from Wells Fargo was made on Friday.

4:32 am

‘There’s no explanation for such an attack’: Ankara says IDF bombed Turkish-funded hospital in Gaza

The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza after an alleged IDF bombing on October 30, 2023. (Screen capture/X)

Turkey’s foreign ministry issues a statement condemning what it says was an Israeli bombing that damaged the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza earlier today.

Footage shows the third floor of the hospital significantly damaged and smoke filling the sky outside of the building.

“As all necessary information, including the coordinates of the institution in question — which is the only cancer hospital in Gaza — was shared with the Israeli authorities in advance, there is no explanation for such an attack,” the statement says.

“The siege and these inhumane attacks, which aim to deprive the Palestinian people in Gaza of their most basic rights, clearly violate international law,” Ankara adds.

“Israel must stop targeting Gaza residents en masse, without discrimination,” the statement says.

The IDF has yet to comment on the bombing.

Israeli warplanes bombed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza, which was functioning as the only place for the treatment of cancer patients in the region pic.twitter.com/W6E0d3vE3F

— TRT World (@trtworld) October 30, 2023

4:10 am

Israel says 39 trucks of aid entered Gaza today, bringing total since start of war to 171

A truck of humanitarian aid enters Gaza from Egypt on October 30, 2023. (COGAT/X)

Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians, COGAT, announces that 39 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza today (Monday), bringing to 171 the total number of trucks that have entered Gaza through Egypt since the Rafah crossing was opened ten days ago, for the first time since the October 7 Hamas onslaught.

The aid has amassed to hundreds of tons, COGAT says, adding that it has included water, food and medical supplies.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says 45 trucks entered the Strip yesterday, saying Washington aims to surpass that number moving forward — something that did not happen today.

Miller says the US has made progress in ensuring the delivery of fuel into Gaza, which has yet to take place since the war broke out. Israel has barred such deliveries, arguing that Hamas is diverting fuel from civilians for use in its own terror activities.

“Even as we work to provide fuel for these essential humanitarian services, Hamas continues to maintain extensive fuel reserves. Rather than provide that fuel to hospitals or aid workers or for other civilian needs, however, it continues to hoard it for the benefit of its fighters and to carry out its terrorist attacks against Israel,” Miller says, agreeing with the Israeli position.

Miller also says that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the hostage negotiations and efforts to ensure the safety of American citizens during his call with Qatar’s prime minister earlier today.

3:34 am

In appeal to Diaspora, Gantz says Israel fighting for college students afraid to wear Star of David

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz addresses Diaspora Jewry in a video statement on October 30, 2023. (Screen capture/X)

In addition to publishing a video statement reaching out to Israel’s Arab citizens, Minister Benny Gantz publishes a similar clip addressing Diaspora Jewry.

“My Jewish brothers and sisters, October 7, 2023, was a day of destruction forever burned into the hearts and minds of every Jew around the world,” Gantz begins, speaking in English.

“A day [that] proved yet again that we cannot ignore our enemies on our doorstep. That is the painful legacy of our past — a historical and moral obligation to defend the Jewish nation.”

“Like every Jewish generation, we find ourselves once again weeping for the murder of Jewish children. Entire families turned to dust at the hands of Hamas, an organization more despicable than ISIS.”

“But like every Jewish generation, we will outlive this evil. The one and only Jewish state will prevail.”

“As I speak, our sons and daughters endanger their lives to ensure our survival, to defend our homeland and our families.”

My Jewish brothers and sisters –
As our Jewish and Israeli communities around the world are targeted and antisemitism rears its ugly head once again, this is my message to you: pic.twitter.com/QjuoTevXbV

— בני גנץ – Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) October 30, 2023

“They fight — we fight — for a future free of terror, a future free from Jewish fear. We owe it to the Jew in Auschwitz crying for help, we owe it to the university students scared to wear a Star of David or speak Hebrew.”

“We owe it to over 200 hostages sitting in darkness with nothing but hope keeping them warm. We owe it to the children of the nation of Israel who deserve one day to live beside their neighbors in security and peace.”

“As we fight back, we will not apologize for wanting security. We will not bow down to terror. We will not step away from what we know is right. We will continue dreaming of peace, but we swear to deliver on our promise. The eternal safe, powerful, one and only Jewish state is here to stay. The nation of Israel lives. Forever,” Gantz concludes.

3:09 am

Gantz appeals to Arab citizens amid wartime ethnic tensions, says they’re integral part of country

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz addresses Israel's Arab citizens in a video statement on October 30, 2023. (Screen capture/X)

Minister Benny Gantz makes a special address to Israel’s Arab citizens, becoming the most senior member of the government to conduct outreach to the minority in an effort to prevent ethnic tensions from escalating like they did during the previous Israel-Hamas war in 2021.

Speaking in Hebrew with Arabic subtitles, Gantz says Israel is at war with a murderous terror group that harmed “Islamic values.

“As always — but particularly in this current moment — it’s important to remember that Arab citizens are an integral part of Israeli society,” Gantz says.

On Saturday, a mob of Israeli Jews tried to burst into the dormitories at a university in Netanya where Arab students were barricaded inside. Footage caught the demonstrators chanting, “Death to Arabs,” as police worked to keep them from entering the building. The Jewish protesters claimed that the Arab students had hurled eggs at worshippers nearby earlier in the day and had tried to disrupt their prayer service.

In his video address, Gantz stresses that October 7 was a “black day” for all Israelis and that the victims included Jews and Arabs alike.

“Arab Israeli citizens are hurting just like all of us over the criminal massacre of innocent children, women and the elderly,” Gantz says.

פנייה ממני לכל אזרחי ישראל. pic.twitter.com/SOkWIVRwww

— בני גנץ – Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) October 30, 2023

He recalls meeting an Arab bus driver from Rahat who saved dozens of Israelis during the Hamas massacre by ferrying them to safety.

Gantz says he met with dozens of Arab first responders as well and praises their efforts. “The partnership of destiny exists.”

He calls on the public to allow law enforcement to deal with those who are supporting Hamas, rejecting vigilantism.

If there are individual members of Arab society who express support for Hamas, community leaders must denounce them and law enforcement will prosecute them, Gantz asserts.

“Today, it’s important for me to tell the Arab citizens of Israel. We are at a war over the homeland and you are an inseparable part of its inhabitants,” the minister declares. “Only together, all the parts of Israeli society, will we win and bring about better days.”

2:11 am

IDF says it struck Hezbollah positions in Lebanon in response to terror group’s targeting of Israel

The Israeli Air Force targets Hezbollah positions in Lebanon on October 31, 2023. (Screen capture/X)

The Israel Defense Forces says it struck a number of Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon in response to mortar fire and a missile attack on northern Israel today.

The IDF says it hit “military infrastructure” belonging to the terror group.

מטוסי קרב תקפו לפני זמן קצר תשתיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בשטח לבנון, בין התשתיות שהותקפו, הושמדו אמצעי לחימה, עמדות ואתרים בשימוש הארגון pic.twitter.com/DNmQ41pmQP

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 30, 2023

1:51 am

Settlers said to torch home in Palestinian village; IDF heading to the scene